Editorial: An unfortunate sign of the times

Our view: City leaders are being forced to make tough budget decisions. The hostility directed at them for doing their jobs is inexcusable.

More layoffs are coming in Chico city government, and security measures are being beefed up at city hall. Unfortunately, those two stories reported in the newspaper this week are related.

What a sad commentary, when a city government finally does its job of balancing the budget and some people want to turn that into a war.

On Tuesday night, the council learned that another round of staff cuts — which seem to have been understated the first time — likely is coming in Chico government. Chris Constantin, the city's finance director, said about $1.2 million in cuts may be needed. The City Council's Finance Committee will dig into the latest bad news at a meeting this week and try to figure out what to do about it, but city management will certainly be hoping for wage and benefits concessions from the city's unions.

As the bad news keeps piling on and more people lose their jobs at an outsized city hall, which should have started taking corrective actions years ago, the mood continues to sour. Former employees and others in the community who don't like this sudden rush of fiscal oversight have stirred some hostile feelings.

Vulgar, racist emails have been flying around that are directed at City Manager Brian Nakamura, his top department heads and city councilors. Nakamura also has been accosted in public and his car has been vandalized.

Employee safety was the chief reason safety glass was installed on the third floor of city hall this week. That floor houses the city manager's office, city attorney, city clerk, housing and neighborhood services, and other management staff. There is already a glass partition on the first floor.

Now staff at a central desk on the third floor has to sit behind glass — and they can't like it any more than citizens do.

It's disappointing it has come to this, but unfortunately the city has an obligation to protect workers from harm. A lost job could be something that pushes an unstable person over the edge, and with more job cuts coming, the city can't take any chances. And it's not just former employees. Other people in the community get oddly riled up about politics.

Let's hope these emails are just empty words and these confrontational acts just posturing, but nobody should be willing to take that chance. There's still a multimillion-dollar budget problem to solve here. More people will lose their jobs. More parks will be closed. More services will be cut.

That's what a half-decade of neglect will get you. It's time to face the problem, as painful as that may be.

Heightened security is an unfortunate sign of the times, but it doesn't have to be that way. Not here.